This Week in Jazz History: July 8 to July 14

July 8

• Arranger Bill Challis born 1904 in Wilkes Barre, PA.
• Vocalist Billy Eckstine born 1914 in Pittsburgh, PA.
• Duke Ellington records At Newport, 1956 with the extended version of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.”

July 9

• Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie records “Things to Come,” 1946.
• Saxophonist Frank Wright born 1935 in Grenada, MS.
• Trumpeter Miles Davis records Blue Moods, with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Elvin Jones, 1955.

July 10

• Trumpeter Cootie Williams born 1910 in Mobile, AL.
• Vocalist Ivie Anderson born 1905 in Gilroy, CA.
• Pianist/arranger/trumpeter Dick Cary born 1916 in Hartford, CT.

July 11

• Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane records The Stardust Session, with flugelhornist Wilbur Harden, 1958.
• McKinney’s Cotton Pickers record their first session, including “Crying and Sighing,” 1928.
• Blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson born 1897 in Couchman, TX.

July 12

• Tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves born 1920 in Boston, MA.
• Trumpeter Conte Candoli born 1927 in Mishawaka, IN.
• Drummer Roy Haynes records Vistalite with tenor sxophonist Joe Henderson, 1976.

July 13

• Tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler born 1936 in Cleveland, OH.
• Art Tatum records “Willow Weep for Me,” 1949.
• Benny Goodman records “Body and Soul,” 1935.

July 14

• J.J. Johnson records Tangence, an orchestral album with Robert Farnon in London, 1994
• Drummer Alan Dawson born 1929 in Marietta, PA.
• Pianist Billy Kyle born 1914 in Philadelphia, PA.

Source: Smithsonian Jazz